- ‘Demarcation going on, mapping of encroachments to be done’
- *Particulars of encroachers to be submitted shortly
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 20: Over 19722 hectares of forest land is still under encroachment across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and mapping of encroachments will be done simultaneously wherever the process of demarcation of forest land is going on.
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This information has been furnished by the Forest, Ecology and Environment Department of the J&K to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in compliance to the directions by the Tribunal, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
In its order dated February 9, 2024, the National Green Tribunal observed, “across the country there is large encroachment on the forest land and in our view substantial question relating to the environment has arisen. We find that since the issue involves all the States and Union Territories across the country, the Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary of Environment and Forests of all the States and Union Territories are impleaded as respondents. Let the respondents file their response”.
In compliance to the direction of the Tribunal, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests &K vide communication No. FST-Lit/96/2024(7419583) dated 12-03-2024 was requested to take necessary action in the matter and thereafter furnish Action Taken Report by or before 13.03.2024 positively, for its onward submission to the Tribunal and concerned Ministry, which was followed by reminders dated 28-03-2024 and dated 12-04-2024.
After vigorously pursuing the matter by the Administrative Department, the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests J&K submitted the information regarding the area under encroachment and evictions made so far with the mention that the department is continuously conducting eviction drives to retrieve forest land in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
As per the information furnished by the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, a total of 19722.27 hectares of forest land is still under encroachment across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Of this, 13661.45 hectares of forest land is in Jammu division and Rs 6060.82 hectares in Kashmir division.
The area under encroachment up to March 31, 2023 was 20081.02 hectares—13842.68 hectares in Jammu and 6238.34 hectares in Kashmir division. However, 358.75 hectares of land was evicted from the encroachments up to March 31, 2024 as such 19722.27 hectares of forest land is still under encroachment.
It has been claimed in the communication sent to the National Green Tribunal that information furnished by the office of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests J&K was examined in the Administrative Department in the light of the directions of the Tribunal and found insufficient/incomplete. Accordingly, a meeting was convened by the Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary), Department of Forest, Environment and Ecology of the UT of J&K and various directions were passed to the field formations.
“Noting that the response of the PCCF J&K as unduly delayed, casual and incomplete, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Forest Department expressed his concern over the matter was handled and compliance reported”, the communication said, adding “the PCCF J&K has been asked to separately furnish reasons for delayed and incomplete submission of the compliance report”.
The Administrative Department has prayed before the NGT for grant of one month time for filing supplementary compliance report containing full details to be furnished by the PCCF. “The details shall include full information about the encroachments division-wise giving particulars of the encroachers, the area encroached, the type of use, whether in Municipal limit or otherwise. Moreover, the report shall also reveal the action taken by the Forest Department to evict the encroachers in the last five years”, the department has mentioned in the report.
“The status of encroachment of forest land shall be updated within two weeks by the office of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests J&K and thereafter shall submit the updated report to the Administrative Department”, the communication said.
It has further been mentioned that wherever the process of demarcation of forest land is still going on, PCCF will ensure that mapping of encroachments is done simultaneously and in the areas where the process of demarcation has already been completed, the mapping of encroached area will be taken up separately and completed in a time-bound manner.
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